On 3-7 September, Swiss Centers China had the pleasure of co-organizing, with swissnex China, a study tour for delegates from the Innovation Department of Swiss Post. The week-long adventure in China featured exciting filed trips to both startups and big giants, coupled with immersion in local culture between Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai.

The visit to JD.com kicked off the group’s journey into the innovation ecosystem in Beijing where they discovered cutting-edge technologies in the logistics, AI, IoT sectors, from domestic players such as Innoway, a cluster of startups and incubators in the heart of Zhongguancun to Face ++, a platform offering computer vision technologies, IFLYTEK, the leading Chinese company for intelligence speeches, among others.

The Hangzhou trip was equally fulfilling and refreshing. After niHub, a Swiss company that provides services to foreign companies coming in China, Swiss Post came to visit HIK Vision (world leading surveillance video supplier), Geely (the major auto maker), and Ant Financial (Alipay). The day was completed with a relaxing session of tea tasting by the iconic West Lake.

In Shanghai Swiss Post was brought even closer to the Chinese startup ecosystem, in addition to connecting with the AI unicorn Deepblue. Into the evening the team joined the 10^th anniversary of swissnex China, the “Homes of Drones” night where Mr. Janick Mischeler, head of the Autonomous Driving Department of Swiss Post, gave a presentation on the Swiss Post Drone program, following welcoming speech from his Excellency Johann N. Schneider-Ammann.

Swiss Center would like to give a big thanks to swissnex China for making us their partner organizing the trip, and to all the companies we visited for welcoming and introducing us to the business world of innovation!

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